Beer Of The Week: Stone Escondidian Black

Yowzer. There’s nothing like a Black IPA with a near 11.0% ABV to knock you around a bit. Combining Stone’s favorite one two punch of Columbus and Citra hops, this thing will make you shudder as it goes down. As a side note, Stone is located in Escondido California, hence the name of this beer (I had to look it up as I had no idea what Escondidian could mean.)

Pouring a slow, dark black with a brownish/caramel head, the head descends pretty quickly with very limited lacing left behind. Limited carbonation and a chocolate taste reminds me of a Guinness but without that luxurious, foamy head. Speaking of chocolate, the beer relies on a toasted malt body but the hoppy finish at the end leaves you guessing. Mouth feel is heavy and syrupy almost, and despite pulling it right out of my fridge it tasted warm for some reason. However, that’s probably the high booze content. Overall great beer, but don’t plan on drinking a ton of these in one sitting or you’ll find yourself in bad shape pretty quickly. Although this is an IPA, it feels like a Stout, and as you know I’m not too much of a stout fan. Sample accordingly.